PDA

View Full Version : paint the deck?



zelatore
03-04-2007, 04:51 PM
Anybody want to take a guess at what it would/should cost to repaint the topsides of a 22 Classic?

One of the boats I'm considering has some rather unfortunate stripes - my girlfriend says it looks like an '84 Trans Am...harsh, but not untrue - and I'd want to ditch the stripes for an all red deck or maybe a single solid color strip similar to what's used on the new 22's.

Keep in mind that I'm in California and the average boat yard labor rate is about $100/hr.

Don

pmreed
03-04-2007, 08:25 PM
If you ever want to crawl out on that deck on a sunny day, keep it a light color. In the summer, I can fry eggs on my black stripe.

Phil

RickSE
03-05-2007, 08:39 AM
You're not talking about repainting a LE Blackhawk are you? The BH has a big bird painted on the deck.

zelatore
03-05-2007, 01:10 PM
No, it's just a 22 Classic that's has some custom stripes painted on the deck. I see why you would think it was a blackhawk based on my trans am comments - but no.

Here's a pic:
http://www.donzi.net/forums/showthread.php?t=37072

So far as I know, there's nothing wrong with the stripes. It's just not to my taste. I think I'll try to look into some of the paint shops around here to see what they think it might cost.

Don

yeller
03-05-2007, 08:15 PM
zelatore,
You might want to post this ? on hotboat.com. Seems the majority of people on that site are from Cali.

RedDog
03-05-2007, 08:30 PM
No, it's just a 22 Classic that's has some custom stripes painted on the deck. I see why you would think it was a blackhawk based on my trans am comments - but no.
Here's a pic:
http://www.donzi.net/forums/showthread.php?t=37072
So far as I know, there's nothing wrong with the stripes. It's just not to my taste. I think I'll try to look into some of the paint shops around here to see what they think it might cost.
Don
So did you buy GregK's boat. Sweet! Didn't he put a high HP 502 in it?
Last time I saw it Greg and his son went flying by me at AOTH - and I literally mean flying by. All I saw was the bottom of the hull http://www.donzi.net/forums/images/smilies/propeller.gif :eek!:

Cuda
03-05-2007, 09:09 PM
I kind of like the stripe on it, but if it doesn't please you, I'd paint the whole deck red.

Craig S
03-06-2007, 08:43 AM
I kind of like the stripe on it, ...

a poll?

zelatore
03-06-2007, 09:42 AM
I haven't decided between Greg's boat and another all-red 22 Classic. I spend my evenings making pro-con lists in my head.

I should just stop it and buy one of them before I either drive myself nuts or my girlfriend kills me!

BTW - you guys who've seen Greg's boat; it looks like it has a unique windshield. I haven't seen it on any other 22s. Was that a year-specific thing or what?

Don

98shovel
03-06-2007, 09:58 AM
if the stripes are painted on top of gellcoat what about sanding them off and polishing the deck verses repainting the whole top

RickSE
03-06-2007, 10:23 AM
BTW - you guys who've seen Greg's boat; it looks like it has a unique windshield. I haven't seen it on any other 22s. Was that a year-specific thing or what?
Don

That's the windshield prior to the stainless steel frame windshield of the late 90's. It's a clear anodized aluminum frame unit like the current 18C windshields.

It's hard to tell from the pictures what's on the 88. It looks like a stainless windshield which must be an add-on. Didn't the 88's come with the all plexi windshields?

I'd strip or sand the stripe off on the boat with the silver stripe, wet sand and polish the deck. If you paint the deck you're going to have to sand and blend the stripe edge anyway or you'll have a line show through on the new paint. Maybe try to strip if off, if it doesn't work them paint it.

You mentioned all yellow 22's in your other post. The only 22's you'll find close to all yellow are 2004 40th Aniv. 22's with yellow decks and yellow hulls down to the chine or standard boats with the yellow gelcoat hull side option; but the deck will be white with a yellow center stripe on these boats.

zimm17
03-07-2007, 05:08 PM
That's the windshield prior to the stainless steel frame windshield of the late 90's. It's a clear anodized aluminum frame unit like the current 18C windshields.
It's hard to tell from the pictures what's on the 88. It looks like a stainless windshield which must be an add-on. Didn't the 88's come with the all plexi windshields?
I'd strip or sand the stripe off on the boat with the silver stripe, wet sand and polish the deck. If you paint the deck you're going to have to sand and blend the stripe edge anyway or you'll have a line show through on the new paint. Maybe try to strip if off, if it doesn't work them paint it.
You mentioned all yellow 22's in your other post. The only 22's you'll find close to all yellow are 2004 40th Aniv. 22's with yellow decks and yellow hulls down to the chine or standard boats with the yellow gelcoat hull side option; but the deck will be white with a yellow center stripe on these boats.

Mine's an '88 with the stainless windshield. Of course, it might not be original.

DON N.
03-07-2007, 08:44 PM
In 1988 The Testarossa Edition Came With A Stainless Windshield Frame .

TheFees
03-07-2007, 11:24 PM
Couple of questions. Did the previous owner paint the whole top or just the gray stripe? What I am getting at, is the stripe painted over gel coat? If so, when they prepped it, did they go with something extra coarse to prep it, like 220 grit, then spray any kind of 2 part epoxy over it before painting? In that case, buffing would be difficult after removing the stripe. I had a body shop for 20 years did a lot of high end cars.
On fiberglas panels, we would use a special stripper that would not harm the glass. Regular stripper will soften and ruin the glass, even for refinishing. It actually softens the glass. Although we never stripped a car then buffed the glass. It was always a strip, then sand, prime, and paint. So research would need to be done to determine buffability after stripping with special stripper.
The other important factor to consider is; Gelcoat is a preferable boating surface to paint, when it comes to scratch resistance. I remember having jeans on during the fall, and sliding across the bow, and then see a fine dark line where a rivet from my jeans rubbed the surface, and thinking how grateful I was that it was not paint, otherwise it could be a tear, instead of an easily buffable faint line.
If the entire top of the boat is painted, the challenge is getting the edges off of the stripe. Refinishing problems are common with stripes, due to the fact that while you are sanding the stripes off even with a sanding block, the material right alongside of it is being removed at the same time. You finally sand all of the stripe off, and think it is all gone, then you refinish, and realize that their is a ridge along the old stripe line. One way to avoid that is to cut the piece with a coarser grit such as 220, then followed up with 400 before refinishing. Even with 220 doing the cutting problem still exists. I used to cut a hood so far back that it was just about pure metal before I would start building again. That seemed to be the only way you could get rid of the stripe. If it was a complex stripe that would require a lot of sanding, I used to just strip the whole hood to get rid of it, that is how bad of a problem it is.
Then at the least you want to use an adhesion promoter before top coating, and preferably an epoxy based primer, or at least a standard primer before top coating. Then the problem is that the color of the primer will show on the edge, unless you cover the seam with striping material the way Donzi does at the factory, even though it is an all gel coat procedure originally.
The other thing you are dealing with is in refinishing the top panels of the boat, you are dealing with trying to match red. The problem with matching red is that the color in the can is never what it dries to. It always dries way darker. I'd like to exaggerate, and only a little, what is orange looking, by the time it dries, it is full red. So to get an accurate match, you have to mix a small amount, and do a test panel. Don't mix a large amount and try to adjust it in, because sometimes you go adjusting, then somehow, a little too much of a certain tint, and the whole gallon is unrecoverable. If you check the price of urethanes these days, that is critical. So you mix a small amount, do a test panel, then if you are looking for a perfect match you even have to do a fine paper and polish, to see what the final color will be. In short, red mixes one color, dries another, then sands and polishes another. Drying is not just an hour or two, but rather something you need to do until the next day to get an idea of where the color really is settling. The forgiving thing in refinishing the top of the boat is that you have a stainless bump rail going around the boat to break the edge to edge comparison line. Plus you have each color area on a different plane. The side light is different than the top panel light, so it is as if a variation is naturally built in. BUT getting a perfect match is the only way to go.
One last note is that red is always more expensive for material than any other color, so get ready for sticker shock for materials.
I guess all of this information may be more than you need, but hopefully something in all of it will be beneficial. Maybe someone else can glean something from it also. I will be honest with you, I have not refinished boats before. My 1987 18 is still all original glass. I finally figured out a procedure for bringing up the red, even after all of these years, that is another post I have under Donzi.net "Boats for Sale' then "1988 Donzi for sale on eBay with Motor Damage" (something like that)
The only other thing that I think is important to note is that when refinishing the top panel of the boat only, you have to go to unbelievable lengths to protect the lower part of the boat from overspray. An overall plastic disposable car cover is not designed to reach the height of a boat on a trailer. Anything open underneath, and the overspray will find you. If you have a 1/4 inch breathing hole at the bottom the overspray will find it, and cleaning that up is a mess. It's like trying to stop water from leaking through a 1/4 hole in the hull. It will leak and leak real bad.
Way more information than everybody needs. I feel like typing, and talking to my fellow Donzi owners, so I kind of get carried away. It's 12:16 am EST, Leno is almost over, I'm going to bed. Good night.

zelatore
03-08-2007, 09:33 AM
Now that's a post!

Good information. I spoke with my fiberglass guy briefly (I didn't even have any pics handy) when he stopped by the office and he was familier with Donzi red. He figured he could do it without too much trouble, but then again like I said he didn't see it and it was only the most cursory converstation.

Who knows, maybe the stripes grow on you.

And brother, I hear you about the overspray! Last year I refurbed my trailer in my driveway. I had a black truck parked in th garage. Even with the main garage doors closed but the little side door open in back I later found white overspray on the truck. $%@#@!! I had to have a detailer take it out as I couldn't cut it with simple polishing. Cost me $400.

Don